John Sheppard's Not So Good Trip To Earth
by MacGateFan
Summary: Sheppard takes a trip to Earth to deal with the events of Phantoms, but can Sheppard really go somewhere and not save someone in trouble? Crossover with SG1, Daniel makes an appearance!


Title: John Sheppard's Not So Good Trip to Earth  
Rating: PG  
Author: MacGateFan  
Notes: Written for karrikln1671's Pay It Forward fic request where Sheppard visits Earth, there's wumpage, and Daniel Jackson is involved.  
Disclaimers: Don't belong to me, unfortunately...

* * *

Daniel glanced down at the blood seeping through his fingers and onto the floor. He could hardly believe what happened within the span of 20 minutes. "You need to call for a medic!" he said to the man holding a now smoking gun. "He doesn't have to die!"

He felt John Sheppard shudder beneath him and Daniel willed his new friend to hold on a little longer. Daniel took a deep breath and tried to remember how the hostage situation began in the first place...

"I won't be long," John said as he and Daniel entered the store. "Just need to grab something for McKay."

John had asked for a week of leave after the events of the mission his team had dubbed 'Phantoms'. He would normally have just let that mission meld into his mind, but this one hit him pretty hard. Especially since he almost killed two of his friends.

General Landry had asked that Daniel help John unwind since the rest of his team was laid up with the flu because of the very cold planet they went to and Vala knocking them all but Daniel into an icy river (by accident, of course).

John was getting ready to head back to Atlantis, but per Rodney, he was not allowed to return without at least three boxes of Twinkies... And coffee. He followed Daniel into the convenient store and headed towards the sugar aisle, as him Mom used to call it.

He was just about to head up to the counter, where Daniel was paying for some drinks for them, when he heard the familiar sound of a 9 mil cocking behind him. His eyes met Daniel's, who had heard it as well.

"Everyone move towards the counter now!" the man exclaimed.

John glanced to his left to see a Mother clutching tightly to her baby. He noticed that she was inching towards the door and he tried to give her an imperceptible nod, but the gunman noticed it too and pointed the gun directly at her. She immediately began to freak out, causing her baby to start crying.

John rushed between them and the gunman. "Listen, why don't you just let her leave?" he asked.

"Shut up!" the man exclaimed. "I don't have to listen to a word you're saying! I came here for money and that's what I'm gonna get!"

"That's fine. You can have all the money you want."

John looked over at the cashier, who opened his register while the gunman remained where he was. "Put it in a bag and bring it over here," he said.

As the cashier did what he was told, the Mother decided the gunman didn't care about her anymore and again moved towards the door. She was wrong because the gunman swung around again and John knew he was going to fire. He jumped between the two of them, feeling the bullet catch him in the chest, he fell smacking his head on the floor.

Stars danced in his vision. He could hear a woman crying soft and suddenly someone was putting pressure on his chest. John muffled a cry of pain as he opened his eyes. Daniel was standing over him.

"You need to call for a medic!" he said to the man holding a now smoking gun. "He doesn't have to die!"

The man looked positively freaked out that he had fired the weapon to begin with and he let it drop to the ground. He moved away from it and rushed to the back entrance. Daniel sighed in relief as he ran off and he heard a siren coming closer.

The young clerk, who had been nervously putting money in a bag, grinned sheepishly. "I thought it'd be best if I hit the panic button," she told Daniel.

He smiled. "You just might have saved his life."

Although now that Daniel said that and looked back down at John, he wasn't so sure of himself. The man's breathing had become quite labored and his pulse thready as his heart attempted to pump more blood throughout his body.

"Come on, John, stay with me! I don't relish telling Elizabeth, or Ronon for that matter, you were injured on my watch, let alone were killed."

John chuckled, then winced. "Stop making me laugh," he gasped out.

"Sorry," Daniel replied.

The next five minutes were agonizingly slow as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. The original sirens they heard were police cars and their gunman had been apprehended, but for some reason, it took the ambulance the extra time to arrive.

Daniel was going to be writing them a nice long letter.

He nodded in approval when medics were heading in. "John, they're going to help you know." It was then that Daniel realized his friend wasn't breathing! He was about to start CPR when the medics entered.

"We'll take over from here, Sir!" the young woman replied.

Daniel nodded to, he glanced at her name tag, Stefanie. Now it was time to call the SGC. Oh he did not want that Ronon guy to come to Earth and kill him. And Teal'c currently wasn't available to protect him!

After making the call, Daniel felt a tap on his shoulder. "Are you coming with us?" Stefanie asked.

"I am. How is he?"

"He's breathing, but not too well on his own. He may have an open pneumothorax so we should get moving!"

Daniel had no clue what that was, but he knew it didn't sound good. "Lets go then!"

* * *

"Dr. Jackson are you all right?"

He looked up to see General Landry. "I'm fine, I may have nightmares of people getting shot, but that's just par for the

course, right?" he replied. "Still waiting on word from one of the doctors treating John, though. The medic didn't seem

too optimistic. She said something about open pneumothorax."

Landry winced. He knew exactly what that was since that happened to him once before. "It's when there's a hole in the chest wall where there shouldn't be and it lets air move freely in the spaces of your lungs. It's also known as a collapsed lung. Not something you want going on."

"Yeah..." Daniel said. "Anyone from Atlantis coming?"

"I have a car waiting for them, but I figured you could use a little support."

Landry was about to reply when he noticed a doctor heading over to them. "Dr. Jackson, I'm Dr. Frank Wilson," he said, then looked at Landry.

"General Hank Landry."

He nodded. "If you'll follow me, please. We've finished repairing the pneumothorax, but Colonel Sheppard is in serious condition right now. He is currently in the ICU and we're watching out for signs of hemothorax, which is when there is more than 1500 mL of blood within the pleural space. So far it doesn't look like we'll have to deal with that."

"With Colonel Sheppard, it's a real possibility."

Daniel and Landry chuckled at the doctor's facial expression in response to Carson Beckett's comment. "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"I am Colonel Sheppard's physician," Carson replied. "Now if you'd be so kind as to let me see him, I would appreciate it."

The man grumbled a faint reply and led Carson back to the ICU.

Rodney walked up to Daniel. "We let him come back to Earth for a week and this is what happens? You're lucky I made Ronon stay where he is!"

"McKay," Landry warned, noticing Daniel's wide eyes. "Behave or I'll have you kicked out."

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's all right, I understand."

Landry had to admit that he was a bit surprised by Daniel's response. He listened as Daniel told them what happened in the convenient store. Now it was McKay's turn to look shocked.

"Oh my God it was my fault! I told him he had to bring Twinkies back to Atlantis!"

"Relax," Landry replied. "It's no one's fault except the man who shot him."

Five minutes later, a nurse came out and allowed them into John's private ICU room. He was put into the room for security purposes according to Landry. He didn't want the Colonel to accidentally say anything about Atlantis or the Stargate Program.

"Carson?" Rodney said once they entered the room.

The physician looked up from John's chart. "He's doing all right for the most part, Rodney. The chest tube will be left in place for several days so Colonel Sheppard may be in here for awhile. Some people need extra oxygen to help air around the lung be reabsorbed more quickly and we both know how stubborn he is."

"Can we at least bring him back to... um... with us?"

Carson was about to reply, but Dr. Wilson spoke up. "If you think you're removing my patient from this hospital, you have another thing coming!"

"Is he able to be moved Dr. Beckett?" Landry asked, ignoring Dr. Wilson. He already had enough of this doctor.

"It's best not to, General," Carson replied. "However, if Dr. Wilson doesn't mind, I'd like to remain here to care for Colonel Sheppard myself."

Landry grinned. "Oh, he doesn't mind."

A few days passed before Carson deemed John well enough to remove the chest tube. "Thanks, Doc," John replied as Carson handed him some ice chips. His throat was a bit sore but it beat being dead any day.

"You picked a good time to wake up."

"Why's that?"

Carson smiled. "Rodney's sleeping out in the waiting room. He's been in here pacing back and forth, waiting for me to have that tube removed. I'm guessing he wants to talk to you. Oh, and a pretty young lass came by for a visit. I believe she was the one you saved."

"Is she still here?"

"No," Carson said. "She'll be back tomorrow."

Suddenly the door burst open and Rodney stood there, arms crossed. "And when were you going to tell me he was up and about?"

"I'd hardly call this up and about, Rodney," John told him with a chuckle. "I'm only able to talk right now because if I move too much, my chest hurts."

He sat down next to Carson. "So, wanna tell me why, no matter where you go, you have to try and save people?" John was about to respond when Rodney shook his head. "Rhetorical, Sheppard, we know the answer already."


End file.
